42,500 Introduced Workplaces... 4% Increase
Total Registered Workers Up 2.8% Year-on-Year
Individual Retirement Pension Reserves Up 34.8%
Mid-term Withdrawals Down 20.9%... Increase in Housing Purchase Reasons
Last year, the total accumulated amount of retirement pensions reached 295 trillion won, showing a 15.5% increase compared to the previous year. The accumulated amount for individual retirement pensions was 47 trillion won, growing by more than 34% in one year. The amount of early withdrawals decreased by 20.9%, with more than half of the withdrawal reasons attributed to home purchases.
According to the 2021 Retirement Pension Statistics released by Statistics Korea on the 19th, the accumulated amount of retirement pensions increased by 15.5% from 255 trillion won in 2020 to 295 trillion won last year.
The composition ratio of retirement pensions was 58.0% for defined benefit plans, 25.6% for defined contribution plans, 16.0% for individual retirement pensions, and 0.4% for IRP special cases, with the individual retirement pension composition ratio increasing by 2.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Of the accumulated amount, 83.1% was managed in principal-guaranteed products, and 13.6% in performance-based products, with the performance-based product composition ratio increasing by 2.9 percentage points from the previous year.
By financial sector, banks accounted for 50.5%, life insurance companies 22.2%, securities companies 21.3%, non-life insurance companies 4.8%, and the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service 1.2%.
The number of workplaces that introduced retirement pensions expanded by 4.0%, from 408,000 to 425,000. The increase was mainly in defined contribution plans (65.2%), defined benefit plans (21.7%), hybrid plans (7.1%), and IRP special cases (6.0%).
Among 1.53 million workplaces eligible to introduce retirement pensions, 415,000 had adopted them, resulting in an adoption rate of 27.1%. This is slightly lower compared to 27.2% in 2017, 27.3% in 2018, 27.5% in 2019, and 27.2% in 2020.
By industry, adoption rates were 61.2% in health and social welfare, 57.8% in finance and insurance, 36.9% in manufacturing, 19.4% in construction, 19.2% in wholesale and retail, and 6.0% in accommodation and food services.
The total number of enrolled workers increased by 2.8%, from 6.648 million to 6.838 million. Among 11.957 million eligible workers, 6.368 million were enrolled, resulting in an enrollment rate of 53.3%.
Status of Employee Retirement Pension Enrollment by Major Industry (Data Provided by Statistics Korea)
The enrollment rate was 53.9% for men and 52.4% for women. By age group, the enrollment rates were 61.0% for those in their 30s, 57.3% for those in their 40s, and 52.5% for those in their 50s. By industry, the rates were 73.2% in finance and insurance, 63.6% in manufacturing, 62.6% in health and social welfare, 59.2% in business services, 43.3% in wholesale and retail, and 33.2% in construction.
The number of individual retirement pension subscribers increased by 13.3%, from 2.446 million to 2.77 million, and the accumulated amount grew by 34.8%, from 35 trillion won to 47 trillion won. Among all subscribers, the self-employed accounted for 20.1%, those covered by severance pay 16.6%, and those covered by occupational pensions 7.6%.
The number of early withdrawal cases from retirement pensions decreased by 20.9%, from 69,000 to 55,000, and the withdrawal amount dropped by 25.9%, from 2.6 trillion won to 1.9 trillion won. The main reason was home purchase at 54.4%, followed by housing rent at 27.2%, rehabilitation procedures at 12.9%, and long-term care at 4.2%.
The number of people who transferred their accumulated funds to individual retirement pensions decreased by 6.4%, from 858,000 to 913,000. However, the transfer amount increased by 16.2%, from 15 trillion won to 18 trillion won.
The number of people who terminated their individual retirement pensions increased by 2.6%, from 843,000 to 865,000, and the termination amount rose by 5.8%, from 11 trillion won to 12 trillion won.
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